It had been six years since Alaster had left. We kept in contact through letters, and I was overjoyed whenever I saw a pigeon fly into the church’s steeple. Normally things like letter pigeons were reserved for emergencies or official matters. It was one nice thing about Alaster being considered a prodigy and getting some special treatment, it gave us an avenue to keep in contact.
It made things a little easier but I still missed him dearly. Not seeing him for six years tore me up. Today though a letter had arrived and I rushed to get to it. The poor pigeon had barely had a moment to breathe before I snatched the letter off its leg. I was positive it was from Alaster, there were rarely other letters sent but I did still check who it was addressed to. It was addressed to me, mom, and dad like usual.
Even with us being able to exchange letters, we could only do so once or sometimes twice a week. We made full use of that. I wished we could use a bigger bird though, the letters had to be so small and I wanted to write so much more.
As I read the letter, I could not help the smile forming on my face. Alaster would be coming for a visit! He did not go into much detail, but he had gotten approval recently and was already on his way.
I ran to Father, who was reading in his office, and told him the news. I could hardly contain my excitement. Father just smiled and told me I should go tell Lilly. He was overjoyed as well.
As I left the church I could hear Mother in the field behind the church. She was keeping an eye on some of the other children playing. Reprimanding a couple who had been too rough. I just smirked as I saw it but that was not what I was here for.
The kids noticed me and paled. These last six years had taught them I was not someone to mess with. Most of the time it was me being reprimanded. They were all older than me, but none could contend with me anymore.
“Mom! Alaster is coming!” I called, my excitement unable to be held back.
Mother just looked at me for a second before she registered what I said.
“When?” she asked, completely forgetting about the kids she was just dealing with, who quickly took the moment of distraction to run off.
“He is on his way, the letter arrived ahead of him,” I replied. The capital was not far, only a week or so by carriage, so it should be less than a week until he got here.
Mother looked giddy. However, recovered quickly and scowled seeing the kids have run off. I felt bad but I was too excited. I knew their hiding places though, so I could scare them back to her. These last few years had put me in charge, and I reminded them whenever they got out of line.
I could hear them giggling behind a shed not far from the church. It was used to hold supplies to reign in the weeds that would take over quickly without any management. They were likely delighted they one-upped mother. Though I wondered why they didn’t account that she was distracted because of me.
They didn’t notice me yet, so I went the long way around, using the tree line as cover as I got behind the shed. I quietly got close to them and could see them peeking around the shed, looking out for mother.
“You know what happens if you worry her too much right?” I asked, having gotten right behind them without them noticing. The giggling stopped.
They spun around and I could see the terror in their eyes, I just smirked.
“Boo”
That was all it took, they took off. I could see mother still around the back of the church calling for them, she was quick to notice them running, and me coming out from behind the shed. I was her little child herder and I could see she was very amused by my work.
The rest of the week was uneventful. My excitement grew with each day. But we would need to prepare for his arrival. He had noted a friend from the order was coming as well, so I decided to stay with my mother while they were here so his friend could use my room.
Mother didn’t like the idea, since she lived at the bar and her profession wasn’t something she wanted me involved in. I learned about her job not long after Alaster left. It was the secret the boys wanted to keep to themselves and why Alaster had tried to be distant. I became very convincing after he left though.
All I had to do is ask her if she wanted to work while Alaster was here and that seemed to be enough. Money was not an issue for anyone in a place like Silvergrove, we all took care of one another regardless. Something like taking a week off when your child is visiting isn’t something anyone can argue with.
I wanted to show Alaster how much I have grown. He often wrote about his training, while the tiny words he could write about it were not much to go on. I tried to train as well.
Father also let me use a sword now and let me go out with the hunting parties. A sword was far from ideal for hunting, but I was able to use a bow and set traps, so I was not useless. I was still too young to do much more than set traps or practice with the bow. My true use was to assist in skinning and helping to carry the kills back to the village.
Many of the older kids were expected to do that as well, but I was much better than them at it. Something I loved to put in their faces just to see their reactions. I got in trouble if I took it too far, but overall the adults liked that it inspired some competition.
A stray demon was a better fit for a sword than a bow or trap. I was not the only one with a sword. A few others carried them, along with axes and spears. We were unlikely to meet any near Silvergrove though. Not with the ward so close and well taken care of.
Some of the adults trained me, and I was pretty proficient with the sword now and was excited to compare it with Alaster. I did feel I was going to get humbled though, a bit of training with self-taught villagers likely could not compare with the training he had. I had no doubt I would be a better hunter than him though.
Alaster’s letters had some notes on the training he received, so I tried to replicate what I could, but tiny letters with minimal details were not much to go on. Still, it put me well above any of the other kids.
Alaster arrived early one morning before I was even up. I had expected him to come later in the afternoon, but it seemed his excitement had pushed him to start early on his final travel day.
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Thanks to that, I was late for the action. Father had to wake me and went to help him unload while I got myself ready.
Leaving the church I could see the commotion near the entrance to the village. I could not see Alaster, likely due to the crowd around him, but I rushed to go see him.
Pushing through everyone I got my first glimpse of him after 6 years. He had grown a lot, compared to all the other boys in the village he was much more muscular and tall. A good bit taller than me. He wore simple armor, much more simple than the Paladins I had seen before. It still looked heavy, and fairly plated. He truly looked alien here now, but that mattered little to me.
I charged him and without so much as a word I jumped into his arms. He had seen me coming and didn’t try to stop me, returning my hug.
“I have missed you so much,” I said, a little teary-eyed. I could hear a gasp from his companion, and it sounded feminine. Though I didn’t turn my attention to them yet, that could wait.
“Me too Alena, I wish I could have come sooner, six years is much too long” He replied as he tightened his grip. His vambraces were digging into my back a bit, but I cared little.
While continuing to clutch Alaster I turned my attention to his companion. They wore very similar armor to him and were female, which surprised me. Quite beautiful with tied up long blonde hair and green eyes. I smirked at her, I could tell from her face she was conflicted with how close I was with Alaster. I was going to have some fun with this.
“So who is this?” I asked.
Alaster looked over and then replied “This is Rose, a good friend, we train together often and she wanted to see the village”
“A good friend eh?” I smirked, getting a slight blush out of both of them, oh this was going to be so very fun. But future shenanigans aside, he must have been exhausted from the traveling. I had to do my part to get settled.
So regrettably I separated myself from him and went to help him unload. Both mother and father were already well underway, getting items off the carriage. He had quite a bit more with him than I would have expected. I helped dad while Rose and Alaster worked together and mom left to prepare breakfast now that I was there.
Once we had their things safely stowed in their rooms, we gathered for breakfast. The table was fuller than it had been in years, with all 5 of us sitting at the table. I sat next to Alaster with Rose sitting on the other side of him. I wrapped my arm around Alaster, it had been a while since we had seen each other so I was going to make use of that. Teasing Rose had nothing to do with it, not at all.
She was certainly much more reserved, only glancing at me a few times. Alaster paid me no mind, letting me get my fill while he talked to mom and dad about the trip.
“More demon activity lately. Ran into one last night, just a small one though. Ballsy to get so close to our ward. Father, you should make sure to strengthen the church’s ward, just in case.” He said he seemed much more mature than before. But he ran into a demon?
“Were you hurt?” Mother asked before I had a chance to. She was worried, but I was excited.
“We dispatched it easily enough, I have been out with some teams doing clearings a few times, and seen my fair share of them now. None that are too strong though, The order keeps a good handle on them and does not let them fester.”
“That’s awesome! What did it look like? Did you bring the body with you? Can I see it?” I realized my question was fairly stupid only after I asked, we just cleared off the carriage, if there was a demon body it would be hard to miss.
“It was a pure demon, so it dissipated when we killed it, it was too weak and didn’t even produce a mana crystal,” Alaster replied, chuckling a little at my childish excitement.
“Alena, save the pestering for tomorrow, let Alaster get settled,” Mom scolded me as she dished up.
“Ok, ok, I am so happy to have you back, even if it’s only for a short time,” I said as I hugged Alaster tighter, before finally letting go to dish up myself.
“I’ve missed you too, tiny letters are hardly a substitute” Alaster replied as he started to dish up as well.
“Right??” I laughed.
Our breakfast was just some simple eggs and sausage. A routine breakfast here. Hardly a feast to welcome Alaster home. Though we were not expecting them so early. Mother could use some fire magic so she was well suited to cooking. Very convenient to be able to start a fire on demand.
I knew I also had some fire magic thanks to the test a few years ago, but when I got curious and tried to use it I almost lit my bed on fire. Father made sure to remind me not to play around with it again. He even got mom involved, who chose to starve me with only bread for a week.
Alaster ate just like I remembered, barely chewing, though seemed to be trying to show more table manners. Rose was very reserved and ate slowly but I could tell she enjoyed it. She certainly carried herself much differently than I was used to.
After we ate, I went to assist Rose to unpack since she was using my room. I had cleaned out most of what I needed for the next week already and shoved what I didn’t off to the side to give room for Rose. Needless to say, my room was still quite a mess.
Rose seemed a bit surprised to see my room in the state it was in, but I didn’t care. I was not expecting Alaster to bring a girl with him, I even went out of my way to make sure the only things left littering my room would not embarrass a guy staying here. Various sticks I used as practice swords, and some leather I tried and failed to make into something resembling armor. The room was small so it piled up quickly.
“Sorry for the mess, Alaster never said he was bringing his girlfriend with him, I can get all this in dad’s office for now,” I said as I started to pick things up, moving them to the door first. Rose smiled at my comment, there was no doubt she had a thing for him.
“It’s fine, Alaster told me you were interested in swordplay, though I have never seen a girl outside the order quite so keen on it” she replied as she started to unpack. “Is there a bath? I want to get out of this armor and into something more ladylike.”
“What’s a bath?” I asked, tilting my head.
Rose stopped and looked at me. The clear shock on her face. She believed me that easily? Truly sheltered this one.
“I’m fucking with you” I laughed. “Nothing extravagant like you’re used to I’m sure, Lily can show you where it is while I get this all sorted out, she is your best bet if you want it heated.”
“Ok, um… thank you…” she said before turning her attention back to her bag and pulling out a change of clothes. The red in her cheeks was priceless, she was so cute.
Rose left with a little spring in her step, she seemed quite happy to have a bath it seemed. Couldn’t blame her, she probably had no chance to in the entire trip here.
I continued with cleaning up, by the time I finished Rose was still not out of the bath so I headed over to see if she was alright. Alaster had left with mother, I had a feeling she was taking him to the bar to get him in the bath as well since the church was occupied.
“Rose?” I called as I opened the door and entered the bath.
“Ah!?” She yelled, covering herself quickly and turning her attention to me. She was still in the tub and I could see some steam still coming off.
“You alright? You have been in here quite a while, I got the room sorted”. I said as I looked her way, her green eyes and blonde hair that was now allowed to fall past her shoulders was quite the sight. I felt my heart skip a beat looking at her.
“Yea, um, I’m alright, though would you mind?” she asked, I could see she was embarrassed but we were both girls so I didn’t think much of it.
“Sorry, I will head back to the room, Alaster left with mother to use the bath at the bar I assume, they should be back before too long”. I said as I turned to leave.
“Bar??!!?!” Rose called after me, I held myself back until I got out the door and started to giggle uncontrollably, she was just too precious. I could hear she was rushing to finish her bath so I had to get myself under control.
However as I was heading back to the room, Alaster and mother were back, and just in time for Rose to fly out of the bathroom, she was dressed in a simple pink one-piece with a sash around her. I had not seen that kind of colorful clothes before so I was a bit stunned to see it, though she looked beautiful.
“What do you mean bar???” She called after me, before noticing both Alaster and mom looking at her. Alaster blushed a little and I just lost it. I fell on the floor laughing. Rose was red as a rose, but that only made it funnier.
I let mother and Alaster explain to her, I was a lost cause.